Visionary Vibes: A Blog by Aberjhani

Reflecting on the Year 2016 and stepping not-too-boldly into 2017 (part 2 of 2)

12/13/2016

Reflecting on Years 2016 & 2017 Postered Poetics with essay by Aberjhani.

If you missed part 1 of this article you can check it out here: Reflecting on the Year 2016 & stepping not-too-boldly into 2017 part 1. Part 2 begins now:

Increasing tensions between law enforcement agencies and African-American communities, the twin scourges of terrorism and war, and off-the-chain “natural disasters” too often rearranged priorities in 2016 whether we wanted them to or not.

The massacres in Orlando (Florida, USA) on June 12, in Bagdad (Iraq) on July 3, Nice (France) July 14, the shocker in Munich (Germany) on July 22, as well as too many others that followed, provided additional support for the theory that more and more people are becoming as addicted to insanityas millions are to heroine and prescription pain drugs. And all of this in addition to the ongoing slaughter in Syria.
Acknowledging the hurtful issues that drive destructive behavior on different levels is the first important step to resolving them.

Confronting the Unimaginable in Aleppo, Syria

On Bullets and Beauty Queens

One of the most unsettling trends of the past year has been different kinds of retaliatory violence. Lessons previously learned about the futility of an “eye-for-an-eye” mentality seem to have been forgotten and led to one of President Barack Obama’s most moving eulogies on July 12, 2016, in Dallas, Texas. Unfortunately, at the same time Barack Obama sought to convince Americans their highly-publicized “racial divide” is not as terrible as many believe, former Miss Alabama beauty queen Kalyn Chapman James, an African-American, found herself under fire for describing the killer of the policemen Mr. Obama was eulogizing in terms which her employers felt inappropriate.

The president’s remarks––whether one agrees or disagrees with them––drew responses ranging from pained silence to enthusiastic applause. Ms. Chapman’s remarks earned her a suspension from her job and made her the target of vehement verbal attacks across social media and pockets of mainstream news media.

What may be most disturbing about the violent responses to James’ comments are the way they demonstrate why initiatives such as Black Lives Matter and other humanitarian enterprises are needed at this moment in history: to defend and preserve the essence of humanity common to us all.

Ms. James’ did not advocate violence of any kind. Nor did she promote a hate-inspired belief or conviction. Her emotional reaction should have indicated nothing more than that she, like anyone else, possesses a capacity for legitimate feelings that are an important part of what makes all of us human. Why should she be any less entitled to experiencing and articulating them than anyone else?

Moreover, that feeling was obviously the same one of bewildering agony which millions experienced following the killing of officers: Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith, Patrick Zamarripa, and Brent Thompson; and after the violent deaths of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile of St. Paul, Minnesota. Why should any human being have been expected to express flawless articulation in such an overheated moment of infamous history?

Shaped by Different Experiences

At the very core of what has made the existence of so-called radical or militant groups inevitable in the United States has been the tendency of too many to dismiss the validity of one demographic group’s feelings, or values or customs or needs, over that of another. Nor has the inclination to restrict such liberties as an individual’s “freedom of speech” or their right to equal opportunities helped solidify the unity so many are calling for at this troubled hour. President Obama questioned this tendency when he asked during the eulogy in Dallas, “Can we see in each other a common humanity and a shared dignity, and recognize how our different experiences have shaped us?”

While some may not like the way America’s president-elect utilized knowledge of those different experiences, it has become obvious that he tapped into assumptions and xenophobia associated with them to win his place in the White House and in history.

Actor and Advocate Jesse Williams' Stirring Declaration on Why Black Lives Matter

Something to Think About

Consider the noted inclination to dismiss the fear experienced by some in contrast to how various Stand Your Ground Laws virtually canonize the emotion for “others.” In the name of fear the statute gives law enforcement officials and gun owners in general the right to end lives––be they Black, White, Yellow, Red, Brown, or neutral–– based on fear. More than one study has shown that the deleted life in such instances, more often than not, is of a person of color.

Many of the challenges before us as individuals, nations, and as a species, can be either as complex or simple as we choose to make them. So can potential solutions.

Andra Day: A Powerful Voice of Hope Emerges in 2016 and Soars into 2017

As we bid farewell to the year 2016 and step not-too-boldly into the New Year 2017, one of the most often-repeated refrains from the Obama administration begins to increase in volume: We still have a lot of work to do. Moreover, we should have learned enough from 2016 to give ourselves a better chance at succeeding in 2017.

Aberjhani
Bright Skylark Literary Productions
©Dec 2016/January 2017

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Dodging Curve Balls and Bullets in the Year 2016

9/25/2016

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As much as we might talk about looking forward to the beginning of one year in order to forget about the atrocities accumulated during the previous 12 months, the truth is that all calendar years bring with them an arsenal of exploding curve balls. They are ready-made to fire off in our individual, or collective, directions at some point before the just-arrived year ends and totally demolish our carefully-designed plans and strategies.

I never expect anything less but am also inclined to hope for better. With all the awareness raised during the last several years to correct gun violence in American communities in general, and as a major cause of death among African Americans in particular, it was not unreasonable to think 2016 might show some significant improvements. It hasn’t.

Mounting death tolls in cities like Chicago and Savannah are one part of the reason 2016 has not proven any more promising than 2015. Accumulating deaths from excessive force used by police, as in the cases of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, NC, and Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is another. Growing interest in Campaign Zero does offer a reason to believe in better possibilities but the best ideas are only as valuable as an individual’s or community’s willingness to commit real time and resources to its application.

At this point marking three-quarters of the way through the year 2016 and inching ever-closer to the election of a new president in the United States, I feel as if more than the usual number of curve balls have been blazing like meth-infused comets from corner to corner of the global community. From the refugee crisis and the never-ending heartbreak known as Syria to the political uncertainty presented by Brexit and the forthcoming presidential election in the United States, the word volatile seems a fairly good one to describe the current 2016 state of affairs.

The Job Facing Voters in 2016

The Job Facing Voters Postered Poetics quotation art by Aberjhani.

Any number of political pundits have offered theories on why and how Donald Trump was able to secure the Republican nomination for the presidency. Most Americans know it came down to one thing: money.

In the U.S. and elsewhere overflows of cash, stock, and real estate often equate to political clout and social influence. Yet even with that awareness I was among those who found it incomprehensible that millions of people were supporting his bid for the highest office in the land and could actually put him there. What were/are they thinking? That he would revive his Apprentice reality show and invite them on as contestants?

A particularly scary moment came when Mr. Trump’s team received a suggestion that it adopt one of my quotes as a campaign slogan. How was that supposed to work? But whereas one political strategist proposed use of a certain quote to promote the Great Donald, cartoonist Vishavjit Singh adopted a different quote from my work to use in his #SendSikhNoteToTrump campaign. Funny how quotations lend themselves to different interpretations and applications.

And Then There’s Madame Secretary Clinton

Is Hillary Rodham Clinton necessarily a better candidate for the U.S. presidency than Donald Trump? Polls indicate many Americans feel she is the better available option but also imply the best possible choices are currently not on the ballots. Maybe that’s worth thinking about.

Maybe it is also worth considering that, at some point, history is bound to have its say regarding the matter of a woman president in America. How is that Germany, Great Britain (twice now), Australia, Brazil, Liberia, and any number of others all reached that point before the country so frequently proclaimed as the greatest democracy in the world?

Campaign Zero poster from Join Campaign Zero website. Shows where presidential candidates Donald Trump, Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Gov. Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein stand on important issues.

Looking at her work as a first lady, senator, and secretary of state, it becomes hard to refute the proposal that Hillary Clinton truly is the better option. President Barack H. Obama spoke more than hyperbolically when he stated during the Democratic convention that her qualifications while running for the presidency surpassed those of both himself and former President Bill Clinton when they ran for the office.

In addition, I have long believed that in order for a democratic republic like the United Sates to have any true right to call itself a democracy, its leaders should reflect the diversity of the population. The glass ceiling blocking women’s path to the White House has to break sometime and right now would probably be an especially good one.

Aberjhani
© September 2016
Bright Skylark Literary Productions

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Presenting a Poem for the Earth and Al Gore’s Unwavering Optimism (Part 1 of 2)

4/22/2016

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"The Earth in Rapture, Our Earth" special PRINCE TRIBUTE EDITION Postered Poetics by Aberjhani (featuring Hubble Spacecraft photography).

Should people refer to the increasing occurrence of extreme climate events as evidence, signs, or warnings? Whatever the chosen terminology, it has become clear enough that humanity can no longer ignore the impact human activities have on the Earth.

The heart-stopping flash flood that brought Houston, Texas, to a halt earlier this week, the increasing intensity of hurricanes and tornadoes, and the unsettling occurrence of rapid-fire earthquakes in places where few ever popped up before have made something very clear. And that is this: the warnings about climate change that began to emerge decades ago could not have come too soon.

The Earth in Rapture, Our Earth

The Earth in rapture sings a holy hurricane
of ten thousand prophet-poets
burning stones and blood to the music
of higher rainbow spheres, every leaping tree
declares itself a divine idiot dancing inside
shadows of history and flames of tomorrow.

Our Earth in rapture screams the muted glory
of a shy goddess wed to ecstasy and destiny.
Her veil of tidal waves and indigo clouds
hide scalding tears of smoke and lava.
Volcano rumblings of cosmic grief
moan soft blue thunder as she re-births
her eternal rhythms of eternal love.

Aberjhani (from Visions of Skylark Dressed in Black)

Transcript of Al Gore's Case for Maintaining Hope

In a TED Talk presented earlier this year, founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project Al Gore shared why he believes humanity is in a good position to win the battle against self-destruction. The YouTube video below, first posted by “Climate Reality” under a standard share license, features his talk and is followed a transcript of the main address:

"I was excited to be a part of the "Dream" theme, and then I found out I'm leading off the "Nightmare?" section of it. [Laughter] And certainly there are things about the climate crisis that qualify. And I have some bad news, but I have a lot more good news.

"I'm going propose three questions and the answer to the first one necessarily involves a little bad news. But -- hang on, because the answers to the second and third questions really are very positive.

"So the first question is, "Do we really have to change?" And of course, the Apollo Mission, among other things changed the environmental movement, really launched the modern environmental movement 18 months after this Earthrise picture was first seen on earth, the first Earth Day was organized. And we learned a lot about ourselves looking back at our planet from space."

An Open Sewer

"And one of the things that we learned confirmed what the scientists have long told us. One of the most essential facts about the climate crisis has to do with the sky. As this picture illustrates, the sky is not the vast and limitless expanse that appears when we look up from the ground. It is a very thin shell of atmosphere surrounding the planet. That right now is the open sewer for our industrial civilization as it's currently organized.

"We are spewing 110 million tons of heat-trapping global warming pollution into it every 24 hours, free of charge, go ahead. And there are many sources of the greenhouse gases, I'm certainly not going to go through them all. I'm going to focus on the main one, but agriculture is involved, diet is involved, population is involved. Management of forests, transportation, the oceans, the melting of the permafrost. But I'm going to focus on the heart of the problem, which is the fact that we still rely on dirty, carbon-based fuels for 85 percent of all the energy that our world burns every year.

"And you can see from this image that after World War II, the emission rates started really accelerating. And the accumulated amount of man-made, global warming pollution that is up in the atmosphere now traps as much extra heat energy as would be released by 400,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs exploding every 24 hours, 365 days a year. Fact-checked over and over again, conservative, it's the truth."

Let’s Look at the Atmosphere

"Now it's a big planet, but [Explosion sound] that is a lot of energy, particularly when you multiply it 400,000 times per day. And all that extra heat energy is heating up the atmosphere, the whole earth system. Let's look at the atmosphere. This is a depiction of what we used to think of as the normal distribution of temperatures. The white represents normal temperature days; 1951-1980 are arbitrarily chosen. The blue are cooler than average days, the red are warmer than average days. But the entire curve has moved to the right in the 1980s.

"And you'll see in the lower right-hand corner the appearance of statistically significant numbers of extremely hot days. In the 90s, the curve shifted further. And in the last 10 years, you see the extremely hot days are now more numerous than the cooler than average days. In fact, they are 150 times more common on the surface of the earth than they were just 30 years ago. So we're having record-breaking temperatures.

"Fourteen of the 15 of the hottest years ever measured with instruments have been in this young century. The hottest of all was last year. Last month [January 2016] was the 371st month in a row warmer than the 20th-century average. And for the first time, not only the warmest January, but for the first time, it was more than two degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the average. These higher temperatures are having an effect on animals, plants, people, ecosystems."

This Has Consequences

"But on a global basis, 93 percent of all the extra heat energy is trapped in the oceans. And the scientists can measure the heat buildup much more precisely now at all depths: deep, mid-ocean, the first few hundred meters. And this, too, is accelerating. It goes back more than a century. And more than half of the increase has been in the last 19 years. This has consequences.

"The first order of consequence: the ocean-based storms get stronger. Super Typhoon Haiyan went over areas of the Pacific five and a half degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal before it slammed into Tacloban, as the most destructive storm ever to make landfall. Pope Francis, who has made such a difference to this whole issue, visited Tacloban right after that. Superstorm Sandy went over areas of the Atlantic nine degrees warmer than normal before slamming into New York and New Jersey.

"The second order of consequences are affecting all of us right now. The warmer oceans are evaporating much more water vapor into the skies. Average humidity worldwide has gone up four percent. And it creates these atmospheric rivers. The Brazilian scientists call them "flying rivers." And they funnel all of that extra water vapor over the land where storm conditions trigger these massive record-breaking downpours. This [picture] is from Montana. Take a look at this storm last August. As it moves over Tucson, Arizona. It literally splashes off the city. These downpours are really unusual.

"Last July in Houston, Texas, it rained for two days, 162 billion gallons. That represents more than two days of the full flow of Niagara Falls in the middle of the city, which was, of course, paralyzed. These record downpours are creating historic floods and mudslides.

"This one is from Chile last year. And you'll see that warehouse going by. There are oil tankers cars going by. This is from Spain last September, you could call this the running of the cars and trucks, I guess. Every night on the TV news now is like a nature hike through the Book of Revelation. [Laughter] I mean, really."

Systemic Causation

“The insurance industry has certainly noticed, the losses have been mounting up. They're not under any illusions about what's happening. And the causality requires a moment of discussion. We're used to thinking of linear cause and linear effect -- one cause, one effect. This is systemic causation. As the great Kevin Trenberth says, ‘All storms are different now. There's so much extra energy in the atmosphere, there's so much extra water vapor. Every storm is different now.’

“So, the same extra heat pulls the soil moisture out of the ground and causes these deeper, longer, more pervasive droughts and many of them are underway right now. It dries out the vegetation and causes more fires in the western part of North America. There's certainly been evidence of that, a lot of them. More lightning, as the heat energy builds up, a considerable amount of additional lightning also.

“These climate-related disasters also have geopolitical consequences and create instability. The climate-related historic drought that started in Syria in 2006 destroyed 60 percent of the farms in Syria, killed 80 percent of the livestock, and drove 1.5 million climate refugees into the cities of Syria, where they collided with another 1.5 million refugees from the Iraq War. And along with other factors, that opened the gates of Hell that people are trying to close now.

“The US Defense Department has long warned of consequences from the climate crisis, including refugees, food and water shortages and pandemic disease. Right now we're seeing microbial diseases from the tropics spread to the higher latitudes; the transportation revolution has had a lot to do with this. But the changing conditions change the latitudes in the areas where these microbial diseases can become endemic and change the range of the vectors, like mosquitoes and ticks that carry them.

“The Zika epidemic now –– we're better positioned in North America because it's still a little too cool and we have a better public health system. But when women in some regions of South and Central America are advised not to get pregnant for two years ––that's something new–– that ought to get our attention. The Lancet, one of the two greatest medical journals in the world, last summer labeled this a medical emergency now. And there are many factors because of it.”

NEXT: Presenting a Poem for the Earth and Al Gore’s Unwavering Optimism Part 2

Aberjhani
©Earth Day 2016
Bright Skylark Literary Productions

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Dancing with David Bowie 'under the Serious Moonlight'

1/12/2016

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The late visionary rocker David Bowie with wife Iman. (Getty Wire Photo by Ron Galella)

Dance is a political strategy that says “yes” to life as opposed to the corporate and terroristic manipulations that so eagerly promote polarization and glorify violent entries into death. Simply put, that is one important reason David Bowie’s 1983 Let’s Dance video (directed by David Mallet) is one of my all-time favorites. Through its subtle acknowledgment of the plight of Aboriginals in Australia, the late great Bowie Jan 8, 1947 - Jan 10, 2016) made two very important statements:

The first statement is very similar to that made by Leonardo DiCaprio when accepting a 2016 Golden Globe Award for his performance in the movie Revenant. It is namely this: the lives of indigenous and “minority” people are something much more than hindrances to a given company’s or government’s preferred agenda. As such, colonizing them (something which can be done in many different ways: economically, politically, socially, etc) or marginalizing the same is not the “acceptable option” so many seem to believe it is.

Put on your red shoes and dance the blues

Let's dance
Dance to the song they're playing on the radio

Let's sway
While colour lights up your face

Let's sway
Sway through the crowd to an empty space…
--David Bowie

The second statement made through the video is that as tragically depressing as social injustice and its accompanying agonies can be they do not have to frame or define every moment of one’s existence. The physical and creative energies of dance can relieve the paralyzing tensions caused by systemic drudgery and replace it with a healing sense of inspired positive motivation.

David Bowie on 1983 set of LET’S DANCE video with dancers Terry Roberts (left) and Joelene King (center). (Photo from bowiedownunder-dot-com originally published in 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour booklet)

To “put on your red shoes and dance the blues,” as Bowie suggests so compellingly, is one way of transforming sorrow into a temporary state of something close to bliss, and of reshaping subjugation into an exercise in transcendent advocacy. It is a bit of folk wisdom that people of African descent applied to superlative effect during the days of legal slavery in America.

Dancing Away the Blues

At the beginning of Let’s Dance, a young Aboriginal woman (Joelene King) steps into a beautiful pair of red shoes as her friends look on approvingly. Toward the video’s end, the shoes come to symbolize forces of oppression which threaten her native way of life as well humanity in general. So she takes them off and with her companion stomps on them and rejects what they now represent. The young woman and man (Terry Roberts) are last seen dancing atop a green shrub-covered cliff as images fade into gray contrasts between them, the city of Sydney, and open land.

Almost Like Russian Social Realism

Bowie himself stated his intentions in regard to the Let’s Dance video more bluntly. Speaking of both it and the video for China Girl, he pointed out the following in an interview with Kurt Loder for Rolling Stone Magazine:

"They're almost like Russian social realism, very naive. And the message that they have is very simple - it's wrong to be racist! ...I see no reason to f*ck about with that message, you see? I thought, 'Let's try to use the video format as a platform for some kind of social observation, and not just waste it on trotting out and trying to enhance the public image of the singer involved. I mean, these are little movies, and some movies can have a point, so why not try to make some point.” (David Bowie: Straight Time)

Compassion and Mindfulness

What may be most important in the scenarios described above (as well as on either side of contemporary political fences) is the ability to choose one’s response to a given dilemma. That is why in addition to proposing the previously-noted declarations the video also poses a number of provocative questions. For example, how well do we understand the meanings behind the music to which we are dancing and singing along? Is our passion vowing allegiance to mechanisms dedicated to our destruction or is it supporting the kind of values––such as compassion and mindfulness––likely to support sociopolitical environments designed to sustain the integrity of humanity’s naturally rich diversity?

David Bowie created socially conscious performance art that made us consider distinctions relevant to exercising sanity in a world which too often appears hopelessly lost to insanity. Given such a reason and many more, just as the man himself so often did his musical artistry will continue to take on new forms and ever deeper more meaningful significance. May his soul forever rest in music.

Aberjhani
© 12 January 2016
Bright Skylark Literary Productions

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Reflecting on the Year 2016 and stepping not-too-boldly into 2017 (part 2 of 2)

Confronting the Unimaginable in Aleppo, Syria

On Bullets and Beauty Queens

Shaped by Different Experiences

Actor and Advocate Jesse Williams' Stirring Declaration on Why Black Lives Matter

Something to Think About

Andra Day: A Powerful Voice of Hope Emerges in 2016 and Soars into 2017

Dodging Curve Balls and Bullets in the Year 2016

The Job Facing Voters in 2016

And Then There’s Madame Secretary Clinton

Presenting a Poem for the Earth and Al Gore’s Unwavering Optimism (Part 1 of 2)

The Earth in Rapture, Our Earth

Transcript of Al Gore's Case for Maintaining Hope

An Open Sewer

Let’s Look at the Atmosphere

This Has Consequences

Systemic Causation

Dancing with David Bowie 'under the Serious Moonlight'

Dancing Away the Blues

Almost Like Russian Social Realism

Compassion and Mindfulness

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Reflecting on the Year 2016 and stepping not-too-boldly into 2017 (part 2 of 2)

Confronting the Unimaginable in Aleppo, Syria

On Bullets and Beauty Queens

Shaped by Different Experiences

Actor and Advocate Jesse Williams' Stirring Declaration on Why Black Lives Matter

Something to Think About

Andra Day: A Powerful Voice of Hope Emerges in 2016 and Soars into 2017

Dodging Curve Balls and Bullets in the Year 2016

The Job Facing Voters in 2016

And Then There’s Madame Secretary Clinton

Presenting a Poem for the Earth and Al Gore’s Unwavering Optimism (Part 1 of 2)

The Earth in Rapture, Our Earth

​Transcript of Al Gore's Case for Maintaining Hope

An Open Sewer

Let’s Look at the Atmosphere

This Has Consequences

Systemic Causation

Dancing with David Bowie 'under the Serious Moonlight'

Dancing Away the Blues

Almost Like Russian Social Realism

Compassion and Mindfulness

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Transcript of Al Gore's Case for Maintaining Hope